It happens in Palermo that in July 2023, the fire from the fires caused invades the town center and kills defenseless citizens.
It happens in Palermo that on the still smoldering ashes of the charred bodies of the undefended citizens and the destroyed woods, like new Neros, people follow one another, dismayed, to observe the damage, also caused by their indolence.
It happens in Palermo that a spontaneous committee of active citizens positions themselves in a stretch of their territory, considered symbolic, and protects it, looks after it, cleans it up because that is their home and it is a legacy inherited from their ancestors.
That stretch mentioned above is the Bosco Niscemi, an example of a unique native "tree scrub" in Europe, which has not been contaminated for centuries. We are talking about a part of the Monte Pellegrino Oriented Reserve, the "most beautiful promontory in the world" according to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as you will remember.
They found a place scarred, violated, disfigured by abandonment and neglect.
They got to work and since October 2023 they have guarded the forest that had been reduced to a dustbin. One hundred and fifty garden bags full of weeds that suffocated the local resident trees and shrubs and a mountain of bulky waste easily abandoned because an uncontrolled place abandoned to decay.
Beyond an ancient wall, an environment that is still easily remediable extends up to the slopes of Monte Pellegrino and, having passed that wall, you find yourself magically projected into a place inhabited by Geniuses and Fairies. They want to evict these magical beings, just as vulgar merchants intend to "monetise" that unique place; they want to cement it, distort it to bend it to their vulgar and greedy habits.
Defending it is imperative. The key to destroying it is to fall into the trap of making it an Urban Park. They want to deface so much beauty and bend it to their ignorance.
We don't need billions of dollars in investments, we don't need invasions of shacks and sellers of "typical local products". The forest requires culture and respect, it wants active citizens who, receiving a decent income, take care of that indispensable and unrepeatable asset.
Let's not make it the Villa Deledda of the 2020s, let's hand it over with trust and gratitude to the care of that group of citizens who protected it and took care of it and who continue to guard it, fearing a return of "the devastators".
The institutions mockingly deny the necessary investments. Limited investments would be enough to provide an income to a group of citizens and to protect and safeguard a priceless asset.
Detailed plan of the real Favorita estate in Palermo.
Representation in colored pastels of the Chinese House and the attached royal estate.
